Gauge for duplicating keys



June 12, 1923.

H. C. RAHMOELLER GAUGE'FOR DUPLICATING KEYS Filed April 12, 1922 Y 2 Sheets-Sheet l 92213, 6'. lPaizm 0 eller.

June 12, 1923. 1,458,546

H. C. RAHMOELLER GAUGE FOR DUPLICATING KEYS Filed April 12, 1922 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ZJn-ucnfoz Tm Hezzzy 6. Fahrnoefler.

To all whom it may concern Patented June 12, 1923.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

5. GAUGE FOR DUPLICA'IING KEYS.

Application filed April 12, 1922. Serial No. 551,979.

Be it known that I, HENRY C. RAHMonL- LER, a citizen of the United States, residing at St. Charles, in the county of St. Charles and State of Missouri, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Gauges for Duplicating Keys, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device for duplicating keys, which makes the cutting of the key not only a very simple foperation, but also a very accurate one, taking less'time than ordinary key-cutting, as no special fitting is required and no time-wasting measuringor calipering is necessary.

One advantage of this invention resides in the fact, that there need be no wasting of material or cancellation of blanks, as the device prevents the operator from filing or sawing deeper than what is required.

The object of the invention is to provide a device in which an original or pattern keyv is clamped and in which a blank, from which the duplicate key is to be made, is also secured in the same manner. This device includes a gauge proper adjusted therein in relation to the pattern key and its curvature and indentations. By means of a suitable file or saw the required cuts; are then produced in the blank and no matter how long the operator continues the filing or sawing, he cannot spoil the work, because the gaugedoes not permit a deeper cutin the blank than necessary.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 shows an assembled view of the device with the pattern key and blank in position; I,

Fig. 2 is a bottom plan view of Fig. 1; v

Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing details of the device; I

Fig. 4 is a similar view to Fig. .1 showing the application of the device for cutting flat keys; y s

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail view "of the gauge,

Fig. 6 shows different forms of; guide rollers for the gauge, and p y Fig. 7 is a perspective view of a modified form of gauge edge.

Referring first to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, the device consists of a housing 10 which is constructed ofa base or block 11, at one end of whicha bridge 12 is attached by means of rivets or screws 13. This bridge has two end lugs 14, so that the in-- termediate portion of the bridge is raised a certain distance above the base 11 forming a .The inner face 21 of the block 11 is plain with exception of two raised abutments 22 and 23 having straight longitudinal abutment faces 24 and 25 respectively,.running I parallel to each other. At right angles to these abutment faces the abutments 22 and 23 have other abutment faces 26 and 27 which are positioned in alinement with each other. Between the abutments 22 and 28, and adjacent thelatter, is provided a longitudinal guide groove 28 running from end to end of the block and the function of which will be described later. As best seen in Figs. ,1 and 2, the pattern key 19 is inserted between the bridge 12 and the block 11 so as to rest on the plain surface 21 with its straight edge along the longitudinal abutment face 2 1 and its shoulder resting against the transverse abutment face 26 and thus clamped down by means of the thumb screw 18. Similarly the blank 20 is laid on the plain surface 2'1of the block 11 with its straight back along the longitudinal abutment face 25 and its. shoulder pushed up against the transverse abutment face 27 and I then similarly clamped down by means of its thumb screw, as indicated to the left of Fig. 1.

' It will be notedby reference to Figs. 1 and 3, that the abutment face 25 lies only slightly below the top face 29 of the block I and runs parallel therewith, so that the edge of the blank,,which is. going'to be'shaped in accordance with the pattern key 19, ex-

tends above the face 29 a sufficient height,

which must be greater than the distance from the front of the pattern key to its 3, the arm has at its upper end a. side projection 32, which is'bent upwardly to form 2 a yoke '33 and then back to form a bearing 34 for a guide roller 35. Atthe topof the arm 30 is another bearing 36 for a second roller The rollers illustrated in' FlgS.

1 and?) havea V-s'haped groove38; they are s6 positioned that these grooves are in alinement and situated in the same plane as the edge 31 of the gauge and this'plan'e A-A, see Fig 1, runs perpendicularly to the sur; face 21 of the block 11 when the gauge is assembled in position thereon. a The distance measured from the sharp edge 31 of the gauge to the bottom of the groove 38 and the upper side of the rollers 35 and 3 6 coincides exactly with the, distance between the abutment .-surfaces 2-1 and 25 I Reference numeral edindicates a slide 1 having a transyerse aperture 41 adapted to reciprocation thereon in the dir engage the. gauge arInBO and permittinga ect on of the plane A -Ain Fig. 1. This guide has a rib 12 of, the samewidth as the guide groove 28 in the block 11, permitting longitudinal sliding eras guide therein and a shank is is adapted to project through I a slot 44 provided therefor in the bottom of the guide groove 28 of, the block 11, in.such a manner,

, 'that shank 43" projects through the same anv suitable and rece ve, a washer {15, and a wing nut 16 for the purposepfclampmg the guide 1n 1 position longitudinally on the block It will nowi bereadily understood, that by setting the guide in a position with regard to the pattern key 19,,so, that the edge 31 o-f the gauge arm 30 engages with any desired part of the pattern key, as, for instance, in

I the bottorno f a, notch e7 of, the key 5 the distance from the shoulder of the blank to the grooves 38 in the rollers, will be exactly the sameas the corresponding distance from the shoulder of the pattern key to the notch 47 and that thedistance from the bottom of groove 38 the guide rollers 35 and 37/[0 the abutment face 25 be, exactly. the same as the distance of the notch 47 above the back face of,,the pattern key or abutment face 24. By now applyin file to hah a nk thi s otchei will be duplicated therein and it will be seen that the file can c utno deeper, than the rollers35 and 37 will permit and by usinga fileeof appItoXima-tely the same shape as the notch- 17,;that is, as seen in Fig. 1, a, triangular file 4l 8 the exact shape o fi themotch 47. will be reproduced in the blank. l figvillalso ,be nderstood, that shifting t e guide 40 opposite the next notch. in the pattern key, that n otch will similarly be reproduced in the blank and that.

inthismannerth,eentire profile of the pattern,key,, whethernotches or swells, may be copied from the blank.

- When usingv th'e device A ii bmk iris preferably; placed in. a vise, having the 'position siown in Fig. 1, with therollers as in- -;d1cated,to the leftof the figure or with the rollers on top, of the device.

L. .111 Figs. t and 5 adifl'erently shaped gauge arm 1s used in the slide 40 but clamped in the same manner, as" described abbve, in the block 11, which, as before, is provided with longitudinal abutment faces 2 1 and 25, transverse abutment faces 26 and 27 and a guide groove 28. This gauge arm terminates witlf-a'flat knife-edge 51 and is intended for the use in cutting flat keys 52 hav ing rectangular notches 58 instead of V shaped or concave ones, as indicatedin Fig.

1. As these notches may vary in width jaw 5 1and threaded, as at 59, in the seat 56.

'glh'is gauge 50 is also provided with a yoke 60 having a hearing 61 for a roller 62, another n, on

roller 63 being inserted between the yoke.

60 and the seat, 56 and thet-wo rollers being at the same height above theknife-e dge 51 of i thega'uge 7 H 1 The, inner side .64 of the yoke 60 and. the side of the knife-edge 51 run inalinement with each ether and the jawfi l is adjustable with regard to, thisside 64: fordetermining the width of a slot to be out in the blank sothat, when the side 65 of the knife-edgeis pressed against one side of a notch 53 in the pattern key and the guide 40 clamped in such position, ,the distance of the notch will be accurately located from the shoulder of the key to the samep os ition onthe blank. I

In Fig. 6 has been illustrated ar -e111. kinds 0t rollers, that maybe used in my device, reference nurr' eral 66 denoting roller with V-shaped groove similar torollers-35 and 37 indicated in l1igs. 1and This groove be deeper o'isliallon ei, as requiredby the, work, Reference, m nieral 67 denotes a roller with a concave groove for notches of, th s, character, when a cyl ndrical file is preferably used;' I The reference nu- These edges are made interchangeable and provided Witha seat 70 engaging with the end of the gauge arm 3o a nd a set screw 71 having its head countersunk in the; side of each edgesecures the edge rigidly in the VVhen th nbtches ar vrj name, it is preferable to use a saw blade 76 for out ting the notches or grooves, as indicated in Fig. 4, and various kinds of saw blades or files should be used for differently shaped notches.

It will be evident that the invention is" applicable not only for use in duplicating keys, but may also be useful in copying profiles of various kinds, which are difficult to measure and duplicate in an ordinary manner. It will also be evident that the copy will be perfectly accurate as the files or saws cannot enter deeper into the blank, than what the rollers will permit and the rollers being made of glass-hard material will not dull or destroy the tools." By the use of my device it will be possible for an unexperienced operator to produce a duplicate key from the original pattern very accurately and without being able to spoil the work.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new is: r I

1. A key duplicating device, comprising a housing, longitudinal abutments in said housing adapted to receive a keypattern and a blank in parallel relation to each other, clamps for rigidly holding the pattern and the blank in such relation, a guide being formed in said housing running parallel to the longitudinal abutments, a gauge member having a pattern engaging edge, a bearing for sald gauge member permiting rec1procation thereof relatively to said lateral abutments, and means for adjustably securing said bearing in said guide, a pair of rollers on said gauge member adjacent the abutments for the blank, adapted to limit the cutting action of a tool, said rollers having grooves situated in a plane running through said edge and a straight line eon-v necting the bottoms of said grooves run ning parallel to said edge.

2. A key duplicating device, comprising a housing, longitudinal and lateral abutments in said housing adapted to receive a key pattern and a blankin parallel relation to I each other, clamps for rigidly holding the pattern and the blank in such relation, a

guide being formed in said housing running parallel to the longitudinal abutments, a gauge member having a pattern engaging edge, a bearing for sand gauge member, permitting reciprocation thereof relatively to.

3. A key duplicating device comprising a i housing, longitudinal and lateral abutments' in said housing adapted-to receive a key pattern and a blank in parallel relation to each other, clamps for rigidly holding the pattern and the blank'in such relation, a guide being formed in said housing running parallel to the longitudinal abutments, a gauge member having a pattern engaging edge, a bearing for said gauge member 'permitting reciprocation thereof relatively to said lateral abutments, and means for ad- ,justably securing said bearing in said guide,

rollers on said gauge member adjacent the abutments for the blank, adapted to limit the cutting action of a tool, said rollers having grooves situated in a plane running through said edge and parallel to said lateral abutments, said lateral abutments being in alinement with each other, and said longitudinal abutments being spaced apart a distance identical with the distance from said edge to the operating side of said grooves.

In testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

HENRY C. RAHMOELLER. 

